Air India, Air India Express post combined FY26 loss of Rs 22,238 crore

Tata Group-owned Air India and its low-cost subsidiary Air India Express reported a combined net loss of Rs 22,238 crore in FY26, more than doubling their combined loss of Rs 10,859 crore in the previous financial year, even as revenue declined by nearly 9 per cent.

According to the airlines' annual reports, the two carriers together generated revenue of Rs 71,870 crore during the financial year.

Air India reported revenue of Rs 51,452 crore and a net loss of Rs 15,368 crore, while Air India Express posted revenue of Rs 19,088 crore and a net loss of Rs 6,767 crore.

Air India is currently owned 73.82 per cent by Tata Sons, 25.1 per cent by Singapore Airlines and 1.08 per cent by employees through a share benefit scheme established during the airline's privatisation in 2022.

In his message to shareholders, Air India chairman N. Chandrasekaran said the airline's transformation should be viewed as a long-term process rather than judged on short-term financial performance.

"Every great airline in history was built over decades, not quarters," Chandrasekaran said, adding that rebuilding Air India would take between five and 10 years.

He said the scale of the task reflected the condition in which the airline was acquired, as well as ongoing global supply chain disruptions affecting aircraft components. He also pointed to the need to modernise legacy systems, renew the fleet, reshape organisational culture and develop a larger pool of skilled aviation and technical professionals.

His remarks suggest that the turnaround of the national carrier, acquired by the Tata Group from the government in 2022, is expected to take longer than initially envisaged despite continued multi-billion-rupee investments.

Earlier this month, Air India appointed UK-based aircraft marketing and asset management company Skytech-AIC to manage the sale of six Airbus A319 aircraft as part of its ongoing fleet optimisation efforts.

With IANS inputs